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In today’s society, it is very easy to give up and lose faith. Kids often tend to focus on themselves more than others, and this causes the world to be a corrupt place. There is rarely news about good deeds anymore, and more and more people are getting judged based on their beliefs. As the world is changing, so are people’s attitudes and judgments. A question that can only be answered by this generation: Is the world changing for the better or for the worse?

In the world today, kids and teens tend to lose faith in themselves, and this may cause depression or create an environment of sadness in the world. This is a generation that is scared to fail because they are afraid that they will have a bad reputation follow them due to their failure. This society is strife with brutality and judgement, and every little thing someone does seems to have repercussions in other people’s minds.

“Junior year I became really lazy and sad and I was skipping a lot of school,” senior Madelyn Mitchell said. “I gave up on school and myself, but luckily I had a lot of people there for me that helped.”

Although a great group of friends can help someone get through anything, people often push their friends away and give up on them. This generation shows little concern for others, and instead tends to pay attention only to their own image.

“I think our generation is extremely focused on themselves and also appearances, mainly because of social media,” Mitchell said. “A lot of young girls and boys seek validation from their followers and likes.”

Social media seems to have taken over the world. Teens often lean on social media to make them look better than they actually are and it becomes a popularity contest. Using filters or photoshopping apps create fun but unrealistic looks that are then posted on social media. Looking in the mirror or seeing friends in person exposes everyone to the reality of how people really look, which may not be as flawless as what they see on each other’s Snapchat stories. Social media brings out the narcissistic side of people and it may degrade others self confidence. Teens look through social media and see seemingly perfect figures and some think that is what they have to be, which is an unattainable ideal. Social media might also eliminate our physical connection to each other as face to face conversations are getting harder to have. This generation may have never learned some valuable skills like talking on the phone, sitting and having a conversation with just one person or how to interact with a group of friends without allowing phones to be a distraction.

“I think people look at friends different and evaluate relationships different due to social media,” English teacher Jim Hellen said. “Social media tries to make kids more social, but in actuality it makes kids more introverted and less interconnected.”

The world today makes it harder to trust and believe others. With all the tragedies that have happened in the recent years people are typically more closed off than they used to be, and it is harder to break down their emotional walls. Every move made is a risk taken. When everything can be instantaneously spread on social media for all to see and judge, people have become much more cautious about what they say and do. Friends may see other friends together and get frustrated about being left out of the group. Posts can easily be misinterpreted causing unnecessary conflict between people. This may lead people to give up on one another even faster. Friends often give up and begin to resent one another when bad things happen, because they are scared it will affect their own life. Some people try to avoid face to face gatherings entirely so that they are not in any situation that could be perceived as negative to the world since so much of life is captured and shared at such a rapid pace.

“When I first came into freshman year, I didn’t have much hope in finding my place,” junior Sara Jilly said. “I came from a small Catholic school with twelve people in my graduating class, so I didn’t know anybody going into high school.”

While social media may have allowed someone like Jilly to see what people looked like before starting high school, it may not have portrayed an accurate picture. One place where Jilly and her family used to see people face to face each week was at church. It is becoming difficult to be religious in today’s society for many reasons. The commonality of actively practicing religion is clearly fading in this day and age because teens often do not care enough to put in the effort. Religion used to be the center point of most people’s lives, but as time goes on, people tend to care less and less.

“I feel like I have definitely been losing faith in my religion,” Jilly said. “I used to go to church twice a week, and now I go about once a month.”

Some people are simply too busy and others may be scared to express their religious beliefs because they are worried about getting judged. Humans often stereotype others based on their beliefs, and this is very ignorant because no one can change what others believe in. People these days talk so much about being tolerant and accepting of all, but that doesn’t always seem to translate to what truly happens.

“I think people lose faith in their religion when something traumatic happens,” Mitchell said. “When something catostrophic happens people will either become greatly invested in their religion, or they believe there is nothing to believe in at all anymore.”

As the world is changing, so is love. This new world is making many opportunities for finding love but again, people are afraid of getting judged because they are different. A lot of people, especially teens, look to always be in a relationship because they feel more supported with someone by their side.

“People feel more confident in a relationship only because someone is always telling you that you are good enough,” Jilly said. “You always have constant support.”

In today’s generation, it is very easy to lose faith in most everything. Teens tend to focus on the negative aspects of life instead of the positive, and because of this, people give up on themselves or others. It is up to this generation to change the world for better or for worse